The traditional six-week summer holiday could be axed after all state schools
were given new powers to set their own term dates, it emerged today.

Schools across England will be given complete freedom to dictate the shape of the academic year as part of a Government drive to devolve more powers to head teachers.

The move – contained in the newly published Deregulation Bill – will signal the end of local authority control over term times.

It paves the way for individual schools to introduce longer terms and cut the length of holidays.

The reforms come just months after Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, called for schools to open for longer and reduce the six-week summer break, warning that the education system was being “handicapped” by a 19th century timetable.

He claimed that pupil performance dipped over the long holiday in July and August, damaging their education and leaving them lagging behind peers in the Far East.

But any move to cut the length of the summer break is likely to be resisted by teaching unions which have been fiercely protective of the extended holiday.

Head teachers also warned that a deregulation of the academic year risked creating a “free for all”, with schools in the same area setting different term dates – causing chaos for local parents.

Under the current system, state school pupils usually get two weeks off at Christmas and Easter as well as six weeks in the summer and three week-long half term breaks.

Independent academy schools and voluntary-aided faith schools – which are largely run free of local authority control – can already set their own term dates.

This accounts for 70 per cent of secondaries and around 30 per cent of primary schools.

But under the new legislation, the power will be extended to all schools in England by September 2015.

Schools must remain open for a minimum of 190 days a year but will have complete freedom to alter the shape of the academic year.

Some schools have already used the powers.

David Young Community Academy, Leeds, operates a seven-term year which starts in June with maximum holidays of four weeks.

The Boulevard Academy, Hull, is to cut the six-week summer holiday to just four weeks and force pupils to attend school at least one Saturday each month.

Schools in England have already been given similar powers to lengthen the school day, allowing some to open as late as 6pm to offer extra tuition and extra-curricular activities.

But Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, insisted that any move to shake-up the academic year risked causing major problems for families.

“Most schools choose to follow the local authority calendar because they know that it’s better for parents who have children in different schools and teachers who want their holidays to coincide with their children’s,” he said.

“The problem will come if no one is responsible for creating a coordinated calendar for an area and it turns into a free for all.

“Somebody needs to take the lead locally on deciding term dates and it makes sense for this to be the local authority, even if schools aren’t required by law to follow it.”

Teachers’ leaders have already threatened strike action to prevent changes to the academic year. In Nottingham, the National Union of Teachers balloted for a city-wide walk out after the local council proposed creating a five-term year and introducing a four-week summer break.

But the Department for Education insisted that schools were best placed to set their own academic year.

A spokesman said: “It is heads and teachers who know their parents and pupils best, not local authorities. So it is right that all schools are free to set their own term dates in the interests of parents and pupils.”